Protein-protein interactions play a key role in cellular signaling, involved in various biological processes. Studies on these interactions are therefore crucial toward understanding the regulatory networks of cellular signaling. It is a standard practice that the protein-protein interactions identified by the yeast two-hybrid system should be independently confirmed by in vitro and in vivo approaches. Pull-down and co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) are routine approaches to detect protein-protein interactions. Pull-down assay is used to detect direct or physical interactions between proteins in vitro. In plant biology studies, one of the most convenient methods to detect protein-protein interactions is the transient expression of the target proteins in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves followed by the Co-IP assay. In this paper, we describe the principles and protocols for the GST tag-based pull-down assay and the Co-IP assay of proteins transiently expressed in N. benthamiana leaves, providing a reference for detecting plant protein-protein interactions.

Domestication of wild plants was crucial for human settlement and the development of civilization, which arose independently in many different geographic areas on different wild species. However, these crops underwent variant domestication process displaying the ‘domestication syndrome’ with a common suite of traits. The systematical analysis of convergent selection at genome level may provide important information and genetic resources for crop breeding. Recently, a team led by Xiaohong Yang and Jiansheng Li from Chinese Agricultural University and Jianbing Yan from Huazhong Agricultural University reported the genetic basis of convergent selection between maize and rice at both single gene and whole genome levels. Particularly, they found the maize KRN2 and rice OsKRN2 genes experienced convergent selection and regulated grain number and yield in a similar pathway. Moreover, they identified a large number of orthologous gene pairs that underwent convergent selection during maize and rice evolution, which were enriched in certain pathways including starch metabolism, sugar and coenzyme synthesis. This significant work not only cloned KRN2/OsKRN2 orthologous gene pairs with great value in maize and rice breeding, but also revealed the convergent selection between maize and rice at the genome level, providing critical foundations for studying the molecular basis of domestication syndrome and their applications in breeding practices.

Protein-Protein interactions play important roles in various eukaryotic biological processes. Compared to other techniques measuring protein-protein interactions in plants, the Luciferase Complementation Assay (LCA), based on Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression in Nicotiana benthamiana, is a simple, sensitive, reliable, highly quantitative and low background method that can be easily scaled up for high-throughput interactome studies. Here, we describe a protocol that includes two alternative data collection methods to qualitative and quantitative analyse luminescence or luminous intensity to detect protein-protein interactions in plant cells.

It is very important but usually difficult to extract high quality DNA from plants for molecular work since there exist a great deal of polysaccharides, hydroxybenzenes, esters and other secondary metabolities. In this paper we provide a simple modified CTAB (mCTAB) protocol for extracting plant DNA. The mCTAB method protocol includes 18 steps. (1) Weigh ca. 20 mg of dry plant tissue and ground into powder with sand using a mortar or a pestle. Remove the powder into a 2.0 mL microcentrifuge tube. (2) Add 1.0 mL pre-cooled buffer A (Table 2) to the tube, mix well and incubate the tube on ice for 15 min. Mix sample 2–3 times during incubation by inverting the tube. (3) Centrifuge the tube at 7 000 ×g for 10 min. Discard the supernatant liquid by pouring it out of the tube. (4) Repeat step 2 and 3 until the supernatant is not viscous. (5) Add 0.7 mL buffer B (Table 3), mix well and incubate at 65°C for 90–120 min. Mix the sample several times during incubation by inverting the tube. (6) Centrifuge at 10 000 ×g for 10 min, remove the supernatant to a new microcentrifuge tube. The precipitate is reusable from step 5 if necessary. (7) Add 0.7 mL CI (chloroform: isoamyl alcohol=24:1, v/v), mix it well for 10 min by inverting tube gently. (8) Centrifuge at 10 000 ×g, for 10 min, carefully remove the supernatant to a new 1.5 mL microcentrifuge tube. (9) Repeat step 7 and 8 until no precipitate appearing between the two layers of liquid after centrifuging. (10) Add 0.5 mL pre-cooled isopropanol, carefully mix well . Incubate at –20°C for 20 min. (11) Centrifuge at 10 000 ×g for 10 min, discard the supernatant, centrifuge the tube briefly to collect the remaining liquid and remove it by pipetting. (12) Add 0.1 mL RNase (100 mg·L^–1) and incubate at 37°C for 30–60 min. (13) Add 0.1 mL ddH₂O, 0.1 mL 5 mol·L^–1NaCl and 0.8 mL pre-cooled ethanol (95%), carefully mix well. (14) Centrifuge at 10 000 ×g for 10 min, discard the supernatant. (15) Add 0.5 mL 75% ethanol, re-suspend the pellet, centrifuge at 10 000 ×g for 2 min, discard the supernatant. (16) Repeat step 15. (17) Add 0.1 mL TE to dissolve DNA after ethanol has evaporated. (18) Estimate the concentration and the purity of the DNA solution. Store it at 4°C for immediate use, at –20°C for short time storage and –80°C for long time storage. We compared our protocol with four frequently used and commercially available kits. The result showed that our mCTAB method yielded much more DNA of high quality that is suitable for PCR amplification but with much lower cost.

Tea (Camellia sinensis) is one of the most important beverage crops in the world. With the expanding cultivation area, the demand for tea seedlings is increasing. However, there are many problems with the traditional breeding method for tea plants using cuttings, such as low rooting rate, time consumption and difficulties to obtain materials. Therefore, optimizing the cutting method is of great importance for tea production. In this study, we first changed the culture medium to sponges and found that tea cuttings were able to generate new roots within 1 month on sponges, with rooting rate 32.2%. Second, we optimized the cutting materials by using fresh green tea branches in sponges, and the rooting potential of goung branch maintained with one bud and one leaf is better. In addition, we found that supplying rooting powder to sponges significantly promoted callus formation and new root generation from cuttings. In general, the most effective way was to apply 1.25 g∙L ^-1 rooting powder to cuttings for 48 h, for a rooting rate of 42.0%. We have established an effective rooting method for tea cuttings by optimizing the culture medium, cutting materials and adding optimal rooting powder. This method could shorten the rooting time, avoid the restriction of cutting materials, and thus effectively reduce the expense of tea cuttings, which has application prospects in tea production.

Genome-wide association study (GWAS) is a general approach for unraveling genetic variations associated with complex traits in both animals and plants. The development of high-throughput genotyping has greatly boosted the development and application of GWAS. GWAS is not only used to identify genes/loci contributing to specific traits from diversenatural populations with high-resolution genome-wide markers, it also systematically reveals the genetic architecture underlying complex traits. During recent years, GWAS has successfully detected a large number of QTLs and candidate genes associated with various traits in plants including Arabidopsis, rice, wheat, soybean and maize. All these findings provided candidate genes controlling the traits and theoretical basis for breeding of high-yield and high-quality varieties. Here we review the methods, the factors affecting the power, and a data analysis pipeline of GWAS to provide reference for relevant research.

Plant science in China continued to maintain high-speed progress in 2017, with frequent remarkable achieve- ments and a steady increase in the number of original papers published in international top journals. Researchers in plant science in China have made brilliant achievements, such as the discovery of new broad-spectrum disease resistance mechanisms, the genetic basis and mechanism of rice broad-spectrum disease resistance, and the mechanism of Phytophthora infestation. Two achievements were included in the “Breakthrough of the year: The top 10 scientific achievements of life science in China in 2017”. Rice biology, evolution and genomics and hormone biology were highlighted. Also, academician Li Jiayang, who researches the molecular network of higher plants and metabolic pathway as well as rice design breeding, won first prize of National Natural Science in 2017 for his research "Molecular Mechanisms and Variety Design of High Yield and Quality Characters of Rice". This groundbreaking contribution with significant international impact marks the leading position of Chinese plant science in the international scientific frontier of this field. In this review, we give an overview of the significant progress made in plant science in China in 2017, review the latest findings and hot events in plant science in 2017, and share the great achievements made by Chinese scientists.

Laccase belongs to the family of multicopper oxidases. In this review, the molecular structure, substrate specificity, catalytic mechanism and other physicochemical parameters of laccase are summarized. The role of laccase in plant cell wall formation and pathogen virulence are discussed. For applications, we pay special attention to the potential of laccase in bioremediation.

Protein phosphorylation is one of the important protein posttranslational modifications that is involved in the regulation of most cellular processes in plants. Protein kinases catalyze the phosphorylation by transferring the phosphate group in ATP to the substrate proteins. The phosphate is usually covalently linked to the hydroxyl group of specific amino acid residues in the substrates by an ester bond. The mostly studied phosphorylation sites are serine, threonine, and tyrosine residues. Here, we present protocols and related tips for the in vitro and in vivo protein phosphorylation assays.

Ubiquitin activating enzyme (E1), ubiquitin conjugating enzyme (E2) and ubiquitin protein ligase (E3) are the key enzymes of ubiquitin modification of substrate proteins. There are large amounts of genes encoding these ubiquitination enzymes in all eukaryotic genomes. Analyzing the biochemical characteristics and specificity of these enzymes and their substrate proteins is important for their functional study. Here we describe a simple and fast method for in vitro ubiquitination assay. In the presence of E1 and ubiquitin, E2 activity can be determined by detecting the DTT-sensitive thio-ester formation. The E3 activity of a putative protein as well as the E2-E3 or E3-substrate specificities can also be explored by in vitro ubiquitination assay. This system is mainiy based on proteins from Arabidopsis, which includes most varieties of Arabidopsis E2 proteins that are tested with several RING-finger type E3 ligases. This system facilitate not only the exploration of E3 activity in combination with various Arabidopsis E2 members but also the study of E2-RING E3 and RING E3-substrate specificities. This system is suitable for the ubiquitination assays of eukaryotic proteins, especially for plant proteins.

TDZ(N-phenyl-N’-1,2,3-thidiazol-5-yl-urea) is a substituted phenylurea compound and has emerged as a highly efficacious bioregulant of morphogenesis in the tissue culture of many plant species. Application of TDZ induces a diverse array of cultural responses ranging from induction of callus to formation of somatic embryos.TDZ exhibits the unique property of mimicking both auxin and cytokinin effects on growth and differentiation of cultured explants. The recent app roaches applied to study the morphogenic events initiated by TDZ are clearly beginning to reveal the details of a variety of underlying mechanisms. Various reports indicate that TDZ may act through modulation of the endogenous plant growth substances, or as a result of induced stress. The other possibilities include the modification in cell membranes, energy levels, nutrient uptake, or nutrient assimilation. In this review, several of these possibilities are presented and summarized in light of recently published studies on characterization of TDZ-induce dmorphogenic effects.

Plant science in China continues on the track of rapid development in 2018, with many remarkable achievements and a marked increase in number of original papers published in international top journals. The achivement “regulating the plant growth-metabolism balance to achieve sustainable agricultural development” was selected in the top ten progress of Chinese science in 2018, and “the history of angiosperm flora evolution in China” in the top ten progress of Chinese life science in 2018. Studies in rice and fruit and vegetable fields has been internationally leading. In this review, we summarize the significant progress in Chinese plant science in 2018, review the latest findings and hot events, and share the great achievements made by Chinese scientists.

Sporangia are propagative organs of ferns and their morphology has great significance for fern taxonomy and phylogeny. In this study, we used sodium hypochlorite solution to observe fern sporangia. By this process, we could obtain sporangia photos under light microscopy. We studied the sporangia morphology of 13 species belonging to four genera of the fern family Lindsaeaceae and found that the shape of the capsule is ellipsoidal, with a vertical annulus; the pedicel is composed of three rows of cells. The cell number annulus is reduced in Odontosoria, Osmolindsaea, Tapeinidium and Lindsaea, whereas the volume of capsule and cell number of stomium and capsule are reduced in Odontosoria, Tapeinidium, Osmolindsaea and Lindsaea. As well, the same genus shows more differences between species, such as Odontosoria biflora and O. chinensis as well as Osmolindsaea odorata and Os. japonica, but less difference between the genera of Tapeinidium and Lindsaea. Studies of sporangia morphology will be useful for further research in other groups of ferns.

Chinese researchers in plant sciences published more original papers in international top journals and mainstream journals of plant science than last year, and made remarkable achievements in several areas. Research on the supramolecular structure and function of diatom photosynthetic membrane proteins was selected in the top 10 achievements in Chinese Sciences in 2019 and the top achievements of Chinese Life Sciences in 2019. Research on the structure and function of plant disease-resistant bodies was selected in the top 10 achievements of Chinese Life Sciences in 2019. In this review, we provide a commentary on the significant progress made by Chinese researchers in plant sciences this year.

The ABC model was established in late 1980s to explain the genetic interactions between floral homeotic mutations. As the progress in flower developmental genetics, the ABC model was expanded to the ABCD model with the introduction of D class genes for ovary identity. More recently, a A-E model was proposed and will be discussed in this short review.

The Arnon method is the most classical and common method for extracting and determining chlorophyll. De- spite many improvements to this method, severe problems remain, such as inaccurate test wavelength, wrong content formula, low extraction speed, large errors in results, and tedious operation process. We present a fast two-step extraction and determination method for chlorophyll. The first step is extracting chlorophyll with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) at high temperature, then diluting the chlorophyll solution with 80% acetone. Chlorophyll content determined by this method can be completed within 3 h. The optimal experimental conditions for extraction and the accurate formula for chlorophyll content were obtained by analyzing extraction temperature, extraction time, dilution ratio and absorption spectroscopy. The merits and reliability of this method were tested with some typical plant materials. The method is described as follows: Cut the plant material into a 1 mm wide filament or small pieces and place 50-100 mg plant material into a 10 mL gradu- ated test tube with a stopper. Then add 2 mL DMSO into the test tube and dip the plant material into DMSO. Place the tubes into a 65°C incubator away from the light until all plant material turns white or transparent. As the liquid cools, add 8 mL 80% (v/v) acetone to dilute DMSO, mix well, then determine absorbance at 663.6 and 646.6 nm by spectrophoto- metry. Chlorophyll concentration can be calculated with the following formulas: C_a (mg∙L^-1)=12.27A_663.6-2.52A_646.6; C_b (mg∙L^-1)=20.10A_646.6-4.92A_663.6; C_T=C_a+C_b=7.35A_663.6+17.58A_646.6.

Plant plasma membrane H+ -ATPase was a P-type proton pump. The transmembrane electrochemical gradients generated by the enzyme was the primary force for the transmembrane transports. Researches indicated that the plasma membrane H+ -ATPase plays important roles in the growth and development in plants. It was called the "master enzyme" in plant cells; Great progress had been made about the biochemical character, gene expression and regulation, structure and function of the H+ -ATPase in recent years. In this article the biochemical character, molecular structure, regulatory mechanism and physiological roles of the plasma membrane H+ -ATPase were reviewed.

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is the third gas signaling molecule after nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO) and is of great importance in many physiological activities in plants. H₂S can promote plant photosynthesis, alleviate various stresses and promote plant growth and development. However, functional research of H₂S in plants is relatively scarce. This article summarizes the latest research of the physicochemical properties, main physiological functions and mechanism of H₂S and the interaction with other signaling molecules. Future prospects of H₂S signaling are discussed.

Post-translational modification by small ubiquitin-related modifiers (SUMOs) is an important regulatory process to modulate protein function. This paper summarizes the SUMOylation pathway in plants; the pathway consists of SUMO molecules, a SUMO conjugation enzyme cascade and de-conjugation enzymes. Nascent SUMOs are processed by SUMO-specific proteases, then mature SUMOs are conjugated to substrate proteins by sequential action of three groups of enzymes: SUMO-activating enzymes (E1), SUMO-conjugating enzymes (E2) and SUMO-ligating enzymes (E3). SUMOylation can be reversed by SUMO-specific proteases. SUMO modification in plants is involved in flowering induction, hormone signaling, pathogen defense and stress response.

The chlorophyll fluorescence kinetics technique is referred to as a quick and nonintrusive probe in the studies of plant photosynthetic function. But there are irregularity and confusion in the nomenclature and interpretation of the parameters. In this paper we discuss the problems and try to solve them.

Light is an important environmental factor that affects plant growth and development. Flowering is the most important event in higher plants. Plants perceive accurately changes in the surrounding light environments by photoreceptors, thus activating a series of signaling transduction processes and initiating flowering. Here, we summarized the current understanding of the structural characteristics and physiological functions of various photoreceptors in higher plants. We reviewed the molecular mechanisms of phytochromes, cryptochromes, and FKF1/ZTL/LKP2 in mediating signaling transduction and flowering time, including transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of CO and FT. Finally, we described the advances in photoreceptor-mediated-integration of light, temperature, and gibberellin signals in regulating flowering. Future directions in this area were also proposed.

In angiosperms, DELLA proteins (DELLAs) have emerged as the master transcriptional regulators responsible for repressing all aspects of gibberellin (GA)-dependent growth and development. Previous investigations have demonstrated that DELLAs are involved in almost all processes of plant development. The evidences indicate that DELLA ex- pressed in male reproductive organs, female reproductive organs and embryos in flowering plants and play a major role in diverse key events in the process of sexual reproduction of angiosperms. Here, we try to summarize the knowledge of DELLAs concerning the structural components, characteristics, expression and function in reproductive tissues during the process of plant sexual reproduction. The problems and perspectives are also discussed.

Glutamate dehydrogenase(GDH) is present mainly in mitochondria in higher plants and catalyses both the amination of a-oxoglutamate, with NADH as the electron donor, and the deamination of glutamate to ammonia and a-oxoglutamate, with NAD+ as the electron receptor. The NAD (H)-GDH, with a molecular weight of 255-258kD, is composed of six subunits of a and b in different ratios to form seven isoenzymes. The enzyme seems to function in assimilation of ammonia under stress conditions such as high temperature, in senescence and other abnormalities. It also functions in higher plants to direct carbon skeletons into the citric acid cycle under conditions of carbon stress.

In the evolution of plants, the leaf is more sensitive and plastic to environmental change than other organs; environment change usually results in morphological and anatomical responses of the leaf, including morphology (length, width, thickness), surface (stomata, epidermis, attachment) and mesophyll (palisade, spongy, intercellur space, sclerified, vein). This review describes the above-mentioned adaptive characters of terrestrial plant leaves to alterations in environmental factors such as water, temperature, light and CO2 concentration and combined effects, and analyzes recent research, then indicates the emphasis and direction of future study.

Transcription affects the growth and development of plants through regulating the spatio-temporal expression of downstream genes. The interaction between transcription factors and DNA is a key section in the process of exploring transcriptional regulatory networks. In the past few years, researchers utilize yeast one hybrid (Y1H) and electrophoresis mobility shift assay (EMSA) to examine whether a transcription factor directly interacts with target DNA. In addition, transient luciferase activity assay provides a convenient method for researchers to test the regulation of transcription factors on downstream gene expression. In this paper, we elaborate the principles, methods, and advantages and limitations of Y1H, EMSA and transient luciferase activity assay, to provide technical references for exploring the transcription factor-DNA interactions.

Proximity labeling (PL), a recently developed technique to detect protein-protein interactions and subcellular structural proteomes in living cells, has been successfully applied in various animal and plant systems. Proximity labeling is conducted by fusing an engineered enzyme with catalytic activity to a protein of interest (bait protein). With the catalysis of the enzyme, small molecular substrates such as biotin are covalently linked to endogenous proximal proteins, which can be further enriched and analyzed to identify the interactome of the bait protein. TurboID, a biotin ligase produced by directed evolution, has the advantages of non-toxicity and high catalytic efficiency. Using TurboID-based proximity labeling to analyze proximal proteins of bait proteins, we can study transient or weak protein interactions, which helps to understand the complex biological processes occurring inside cells. Here, we describe methods and related tips for TurboID-based proximal labeling in Arabidopsis thaliana, and hope to provide a reference for studying plant protein-protein interactions.

Abscisic acid (ABA) plays a key role in the growth, development and stress condition of plants. The process of plant response to ABA is completed by signal recognition, transduction, and response cascades. The core ABA signaling pathway consists of receptor RCAR/PYR/PYLs, phosphatase PP2Cs, kinase SnRK2s, and transcription factors and ion channel proteins. Post-translational modifications (PTMs) of proteins such as phosphorylation, ubiquitination, small ubi- quitin-related modifier (SUMOylation) and redox modifications plays an important role in ABA signaling. This review focused on the role of modifications in the core ABA signaling pathway.

14-3-3 proteins are a highly conserved acidic protein family present in all eukaryotic cells. Different isoforms of 14-3-3 proteins have different specificities in cells and can interact with target proteins by recognizing specific phosphorylation sites in the targets; these are known as “bridge proteins”. In plant development, 14-3-3 proteins interacting with other proteins regulate phytohormone signal transduction, metabolism regulation, nutrient transportation and response to light signaling, for example. Here, we summarize recent studies of the roles of 14-3-3 proteins in regulating plant development, especially phytohormone signal transduction.

Anthocyanins are among the most important flavonoid compounds widely present in plants. Anthocyanins play significant roles in plant growth and development as well as human nutrition and health care. The anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway has been widely documented, and the anthocyanin metabolic regulation network is being constantly improved. The transcription factors that regulate anthocyanin biosynthesis mainly include three classes: MYB, bHLH and WD40 proteins. The proteins regulate the accumulation, location and levels of anthocyanins by activating or suppressing the expression of key structural genes, including CHS, ANS and DFR. This review briefly introduces the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway and summarizes the molecular mechanism of transcriptional regulation based on recent progress. It mainly focuses on the molecular mechanism of MYB, bHLH and WD40 transcription factors in the regulation of anthocyanins in model plants. In addition, it summarizes the use of these transcription factors in anthocyanin metabolic engineering in ornamental plants and fruit crops. This review will provide valuable references for the in-depth investigation of transcriptional regulation and improving anthocyanins by metabolic engineering.

All organism respond to elevated temperatures and many other stresses with the production of a defined set of proteins called heat shock proteins ( HSPs). The basic characteristics of HSPs are highly conserved, diversed and the heat shock response is temporal. Although HSPs were first characterized because their expression increased in response to elevated temperature, some HSPs are found at sighificant levels in other stresses, in normal, nonstressed cells and produced at particular stages of cell cycle or during development in the absence of stresses. The findings indicated that HSPs have many functions, including molecular chaperones, thermotolerance, chilling tolerance, a special role in the development of organisms and other biochemical functions in cell metabolism, The association of HSF with HSP70 may be important in the regulation of heat shock gene transcriptional activity. The expression of heat shock gene is self-regulated by HSP.

Retrotransposons are a class of eukaryotic transposable elements, consisting of the long terminal repeat (LTR) and non-LTR retrotransposons. Retrotransposons are ubiquitous in the plant kingdom by high copy number and can be transmitted between generations by vertical transmission and between species by horizontal transmission. The same family retrotransposons presented highly heterogeneous populations in all higher plant genomes. Many of the plant retrotransposons are transcriptionally activated by various biotic and abiotic stress factors. Retrotransposons are used as molecular markers for their traits. S-SAP, IRAP, REMAP and RBIP are developed and will be applied widely in gene mapping, genetic biodiversity and phylogeny studies, and cultivar certification.

Abstract Plants use CO₂ to synthesize carbohydrates in plant leaves, sheaths and green stems during photosynthesis. After long-distance transport, carbohydrates are consumed or stored in sink tissues such as developing tissues, pollen and fruits. Sucrose is the main type of long-distance-transported carbohydrate in higher plants. Transport of sucrose from the source to sink includes phloem loading in the source tissues, transport in vascular bundles, and phloem unloading in sink tissues. Genetics and molecular biology experiments showed that sucrose transporters, invertases and monosaccharide transporters play an important role in loading and unloading carbohydrates. We review the current literatures on carbohydrate transport and the molecular mechanisms of regulating transport.

The plant circadian system mostly includes input pathways, a core oscillator and output pathways to sense and anticipate the timing cues of the environment to optimize plant growth and fitness. As the cellular core coordinating system, the plant circadian system can sense the daily recurring light and temperature dynamics to coordinate the metabolism and multiple physiology processes, providing an adaptive advantage for plant growth and development. The core circadian oscillator regulates multiple complex downstream networks at various levels. Here, we summarize recent major research progress in deciphering the underlying mechanisms of the core oscillator and its regulatory networks. We also highlight a few fundamental questions needing to be resolved.

This review is about the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functions and services. It focuses on the following parts: 1. hypotheses about different roles of different species in the ecosystem and how biodiversity affects ecosystem functions; 2. relations between biodiversity and stability of ecosystem; 3. how the biodiversity affects production of ecosystem; 4. the relation between biodiversity and sustainability of the ecosystem. Several problems for further research are also pointed out.

The metabolome refers to all the low-molecular-weight metabolites present in an organism or cell in a particular physiological period. The term plant metabolomics is used for defining the technology of high-throughput, nonbiased analyses of the metabolome of plant extracts. Research into plant metabolomics has advanced greatly during recent years. This review introduces the definition, history and research approaches of plant metabolomics and gives several typical examples to elucidate the application of plant metabolomics.

Recent advances in genomics technologies have greatly accelerated the progress in both fundamental plant science and applied breeding research. Concurrently, high-throughput plant phenotyping is becoming widely adopted in the plant research, promising to alleviate the phenotypic bottleneck. Plant phenomics is a science that studies the growth, performance and composition of plants. It can effectively track the relationship among genotypes, environmental factors, and phenotypes. It is a key research field to break through the future crop research and application. In this paper, three stages of plant phenotypic analysis are discussed, that is, from the initial stage of manual measurement and counting and the assistant stage of specific measurement tools to the stage of high throughput phenomics. It is proposed that the development of plant phenotypic acquisition and analysis is driven by three important factors: phenotypic research facilities, phenotype acquisition technology and image analysis methods. Finally, the plant phenomic research is prospected.